Drawing the Line
by Peanut16
Summary: Ranger takes Stephanie to a base to train her. He notices somethings off but can't get her to talk about it. Babefic all the way!
1. Prologue

**Ranger's POV**

My name is Ricardo Carlos Manoso and I am a Bounty Hunter. My street name is Ranger, and thats what most people call me. A week ago I brought a friend who is very close to me here. She's also a Bounty Hunter. Her name, Stephanie Plum. She has brown curly hair and bright blue eyes. She's average height and weight, unlike me. I'm a little over six foot with long black hair and bulging muscles. Steph says they are at least.

She was tired of getting shot at, blown up and pretty much being defenseless. I brought her here to train her. I plan on it to.

We had been here for a whole week. The first day here we unpacked and I showed her around the facility. It's quite large and was made for this purpose, training. I own the facility, it's where I have new people trained and tested before they can work at Rangeman. It has a pool, gym, track, gun range and of course bedrooms, bathroom, a kitchen and a small multipurpose room.

Steph was doing well, she seemed...off though. She was doing the work and all but it wasn't her natural happy soul. She spoke when spoken too and requested somethings but..I Something was different, off, wrong. There was only one thing that I knew was going on, and that was that she was having some form of PTSD. Nightmares. I could hear her scream out in the night. She's be rolling around and the next thing I knew there was a scream and then sobbing. I had gone in there once but she just acted like there was nothing wrong and asked if it was time to start. I tried getting her to talk but it's like she got more silent everyday. Better at avoiding the question.

It was after hours of a sort. We trained all day but we had a certain hour we stopped doing the routine work. Up at five, then an hour run, half hour break then half hour breakfast. An hour for hand to hand, learning about guns, practice, by then it would be ten. From ten to lunch at noon it was physical endurance, weight lifting and push ups. She needed extra help in that area, it was also the hardest for her because she was less...muscular.

After an hour lunch an hour more of guns, then an hour of martial art, knifes, and from three to four it was smaller things like B&E and loosing a tail. Four was like the end of the day. It was time to clean up before dinner at five.

_**The end of the prologue...R&R**_

_**Peanut**_


	2. Frusterated?

**Of tears and snapping strings...**

So, I found her in the gym working with the machines. She was pushing it, not in a bad way but she was getting physically tired. I watched from a distance as she finished up and walked into the gun range.

Weird. She used to hate her gun. I don't know how or why but she's been carrying it loaded everywhere.

She took out her gun, shacked it, positioned the target quite a ways away and put on the safety gear before shooting all the rounds out of her 9mm. She left the S&W .38 in her room and carried the semiautomatic around.

I paid close attention to the target once she reeled it in. I couldn't help but wondering who she was picturing. The shots were perfectly aimed, the heart, the head...I grimaced. There was a very large whole where most of the shots were fired in the groin of the paper man.

I looked closer at her and zeroed in at her face, blank...Bad. She didn't use her blank face. I didn't know she had one until recently. She must've practiced in the mirror for that one.

She pulled the target down after staring at it then ripped it up and threw it in a near by trash bin. Then she turned around and looked right at me. Holy shit! Theres no way she could've seen me or heard me. I was silent coming in and I'm in the shadows.

I just stood there shell shocked and watched her walk away before leaving myself. The shower in her room was running when I walked past her door into the kitchen to start dinner. I made and served chicken with vegetables with a little marinade but not too much. To much salt in it.

She walked in at five on the dot and sat at the other seat. After about five minutes of silence she looked up at me. "Sooo. Was my target good enough?"

Whoa. "Yeah babe, you did great. One questiones. How'd you know?"

"Know what?" She asked as she continued to eat.

"That I was there."

"I just did." I raised an eyebrow as if to say explain. "I can feel it when you look at me and when you enter the same room as me."

I was stunned. The rest of dinner was silent. She helped me clean up the dishes then went into the rec room silently. Somethings up. I miss her old happy self, the one always asking questiones, the one who hates running. She still wanted cake, that should be a good sign.

I watched her curl up on one of the oversized reading chairs. She was silent, her breath was uneven and she looked sad. I stood out of the room but kept her in view. After a couple minutes her eyes were filling up and a tear slid down her cheek. I stood off the door frame and walked over towrds her.

I carefully picked her up and sat down then pulled her into my lap. She grumbled something about being there first and I chuckled. I pulled her into a half sitting position. "Babe, Whats wrong?"

"Nothings wrong."

"Babe, you've been sulking around here for a week. I watched you easily castrate that paper man. Now, whats on your mind?"

"Nothings on my mind." She argued.

"Babe."

"What? Nothings wrong! Nothings on my mind! Drop it already!" She shouted then hopped out of my lap and started walking way. I got up and jogged after her then snatched her wrist, spinning her around and pinning her to a wall. Her eyes were full to the rim with tears.

"Talk to me Steph." I said in a calm soothing voice.

"No." She whispered and jerked out of my grasp. I reached for her but she was gone. She slammed her door shut behind her. I walked over over to her door and listened. I could hear her lean against the door and slide down. She was sobbing semi-quietly.

I went to knock but she spoke as if a mind reader. "Go away! I don't want you to see me like this."

I had to smile at that. "Babe. I've seen you cry plenty of times."

"I'm so sorry Ranger." She sobbed.

Thats it. I turned the door knob and pushed the door open sliding her across the floor. I sat down right next to her and pulled her onto my lap. She buried her face in my chest. "Shhhh." I cooed until she quieted a little.

"I'm sorry." She whispered into my chest again.

"Steph." I pulled her away a little and tilted her chin up so I was looking her in the eye. "Why do you say your sorry Steph?"

She didn't respond. Her mouth clamped shut. "Stephanie. Why." Not a question.

Her jaw trembled. "I'm sorry." She whispered again shaking her head. I think that one meant she was sorry in way that she wouldn't tell me. Great.

She pulled herself out of my arms quickly and disapeared through the door we were leaning against. Wow.

I stood and left her room. I had never seen her like this. I'd seen her cry plenty of times, but she never lost control like this. I guess that it was just a matter of time before she broke down.

My first idea was the gun range. Negative. It was empty and dark.

I checked the gym, the track, the kitchen, rec room and even rechecked her bedroom. I couldn't find her. I guess that was the point. I checked every hallway, room and possible hiding space I could think of, and still couldn't find her. I knew that she hadn't left the base because the only doors in and out had key locks and an electronical keypad. It even has alarms. If she even touched the door without unaraming it, the base would sound. Considering it was just me and her here, for now, I didn't think that it was an option.

She'd show up for training in the morning, so I hiked back to my room and locked myself in. After a long hot shower I stripped and settled in bed.

My alarm rang at 4:30 and I shut it off then rolled out of bed and into the shower to wake me up. I headed to the track and was surprised when I turned on the lights to find Steph already running around the track. She was sweating and her breathing was a bit erratic. She looked like she had been running for hours. Literally.

I walked over and caught in pace next to her. "Babe?"

She didn't respond just kept going. I tried three more times but just ran my run like normal. As normal as possible. For the next two days this continued.

The day went on and I tried to ignore it, I couldn't do it any more. She was in the room running early until breakfast, then she barely ate. The rest went fine. Tank had shown up today and the first thing he did was ask what was going on. Tank said there was so much tension between us. Unresolved sexual tension is what he called it.

We had just finished our run and she just kept running. Thats it, this has to end.

_**Here we go! The next chapter is somewhat funny, it's a little fast but it's supposed to show their tension string snapping.**_

_**R&R**_

_**Peanut**_


	3. Sexual Tension

**Sexual Tension**

I walked into the track and got right in front of her. She turned around me and kept going. I jogged after her and when I caught up I grabbed her shoulders and spun her so she was facing me. "Stephanie." I could see the tears in her eyes.

"Ranger. Do you need something?" Her blank face came down hard and fast.

"Whats going on?"

"Nothing. I just came a little early and am going to leave a little late. I want to run a bit more."

"How much earlier is a bit earlier Stephanie?" I asked irritated. She had been avoiding me so much that it was annoying me.

"Not much. I started at about..." She looked up a little. "Sometime after 2."

"Thats not a little Steph. Thats too much. Stop this. Don't do this to your self."

"I'm not doing anything!" She shouted jumping back. "Why do you keep thinking somethings wrong?!"

"Because your acting like it Steph! Wheres the smart, active, funny, girl that I met? The one that insisted that it wasn't her fault! Told jokes! Where?" I shouted right back.

"This is me! It wasn't my fault and I only told jokes to get rid of tension!! This is me!! I'm not that person!! That person died!"

"What are you talking about Steph?! Why did she die?! When!?"

"She died when you told her to go back to Morelli, like a piece of old used property!" She was raging. Sweating, breathing heavy, her face was red and she had tear streaks running down them.

I marched over to her. I was at the end of my string. "Thats why Steph!! Because you thought I didn't want you?!" I continued to yell, as did she. I took another step foreword, backing her into the wall.

"Yes! You sent me back to him! You don't want me!"

"You are so fucking wrong about that!" I crushed my lips to hers in a hungry kiss. I pressed her farther up to the wall and my hands slid up her shirt. Her arms were looped around my neck pulling me closer.

There was a bark of laughter and we both ignored him. I had totally forgotten Tank was in the room. Frankly, I didn't give a shit.

I slid my hands up and we broke the kiss as her shirt slid over her head. I felt her arms go from my neck down my back. She peeled my shirt up and we broke once again as it peeled up and off.

_Tanks POV_

Ha! I had to laugh at this. I was right. The UST (Unresolved Sexual Tension) was so high between them. For the first time in a long time he raised his voice, they argued, but it ended in a searing kiss.

Most of the guys at the office had been waiting for this, they could feel the tension radiating off between them, we were always joking about how we were sure that when it happened and became to much, when they so called 'popped' Ranger was going to throw her down right there. I always went against that arguing that he had control (although when it came to bombshell he always seemed to lose it) and would drag her into the elevator first.

I was so wrong. He just backed her into the wall, then they started a kiss that didn't seem to stop. Next thing I knew they were pulling each others shirts off. I doubted they even remembered I was here. I tried clearing my throat but it cam out as a bark of laughter. They didn't care. I laughed as I left. I wonder if they remembered the camera's?

_Steph's POV_

I thought he didn't want me, thats why I was upset...

All thoughts of the argument lost Ranger dragged me to the mat with him. I vaguely remember Tank saying something about sexual tension overload...

_**Tried, to make it longer, but the tension was too high. I even tried to real it out...R&R please**_

_**Peanut16**_


	4. Getting Back to TrainingBreakfast

Back to Training

Ranger's POV

I lay in bed the next morning thinking back. She thought I didn't want her? Thinking about it now, I can see why. I had just got up with a 'gotta go babe' and left, then told her to go back to Morelli. I didn't even think about how she would feel, other than to make sure she didn't get hurt. I thought she wanted Morelli...she always went back to him. What about now?

Steph rolled in her sleep and I smiled at her, she couldn't see me, but I had to smile, it was going to take a lot of work to get rid of this damn smile. We were just at the end of the line. I had wanted her for so long, but I thought she was with Morelli and even when she kissed me she felt guilt over him. I guess I was wrong about the relationship between them, she wouldn't of let it get that far or want it that much if she was guilty about Morelli.

Last night though, I wouldn't

consider that love making, last night was pure lust and want and need, piled up. Last night was not love because love would be more passionate, I do love her, but that last night was not, love.

I had simply pushed her against the wall and kissed her senseless, then managed to use what little control that was left ,deteriorating, but used it and got her onto the mat first. I had barely remembered the key, Tank would be watching, it was what he would do. He wouldn't be here in person, but he would watch on the security cameras and see if I remember to scramble them.

Well, after claiming her as mine on the mat we kissed our way into the bedroom. Our clothes is still laying out in the track area. I had probably go get them.

With an internal sigh, I got out of bed carefully and walked as best as I could to the bathroom and grabbed my robe. I slid it on and tied it tight then made beeline for the track. When I entered, Tank was stretching for running. He took one look at me and grinned.

I glared. back as I walked for the clothes. "Not a word."

"Nope, not going to."

I scooped up our pile of clothes and again, carefully headed back into my room. The shower was on when I entered, I knocked on the door then entered. I set her clothes on the toilet seat. "Hey babe."

She peeked her head out the curtain and flashed me a smile. "Hi."

"Mind if I join?"

"Thought you'd never ask." She replied with that grin. I took off the robe and joined her happily, in the shower.

By the time we finished showering, it was breakfast time, we had missed the time for running. All though, I didn't really care for once. We both got dressed and she went back to her room for makeup and hairbrush while I brushed my hair and slid it into a low ponytail.

I went strait for the kitchen. I was going to make breakfast, french toast would do. My way of making french toast is healthy, until you get people who eat like Tank and Steph, they drench it in butter and syrup. Horrible for your arteries. Clogs them all up, then you die.

Simple.

Tank entered the kitchen at exactly 6:30am. Steph on the other hand was her usual self and five minutes late. She sat down in the empty seat and we all dug in. They both killed the health benefit of them and I ate them plain. Also, while I had OJ for a drink, Tank had water and Steph had chocolate milk.

Had to give her points for creativity.

_**Sorry for the short chapters in this story, it's in progress for sure. In the next couple chapters, I'm going to get more into detail on why they left, you know, whats going on.**_

_**Peanut16**_


	5. A Seocong Talk

_I do not own anything...or make any money (Other wise my bank account would be much bigger)_

**Chapter 5**

After breakfast, we all trudged to the mats. I taught her a few new tactics on how to get out of several holds. Like when some one grabs your wrist, or has your hands behind your back. There are many different holds and ways to get out of them, so I taught her the best ways, for the most common holds then taught her the basics of getting out of any hold. Knowing where they're holding you, then how to or not to turn or twist to get free. She seemed to get it.

By the time the hour was up, she had mastered the common holds and I had tested a few less common ones on her. She quickly pulled and twisted, pressing the pressure point on the under side of my wrist to weaken the grip, then twisting free.

It was time for guns. I led her to the gun range, grabbing two bottles of water on the way. I introduced a new gun and taught her about it. It was something that I had picked up on. She was better and more comfortable with a gun when I told her about it. How it worked, how to hold it and a little about the background. She loaded it, fired it, reeled the target in,examined it, and put a new on on it. Every now and then she would change how she held it a little. Seeing, testing how it affected her aim and time to draw it (as in pull it out,not draw as in pencil draw). She did that a few more times until she had mastered it, then I had her go back to a few different ones that she was struggling with.

Practice time went pretty smooth as well. She went back over everything that we had done, that day or that week and practiced it a little more. She even did a little more with the lock picking and asked some questions about driving stuff.

Two months passed and she was showing signs of improvement. In her physical form. Mentally though. I think she was deteriorating. She hadn't done any more REALLY long runs, but she was still having the nightmares and despite my best efforts, she was loosing it. Hell, I was loosing it. I had came in, armed but still wearing my boxers, to see her sitting upright panting with tears streaming down her cheeks. I asked a question and she avoided it or lied. No matter my best techniques (and Tanks) we could not get her to tell us. At night she was totally different. Once she entered her room after dinner, she would shower and as far as we knew, go to sleep. Soon, she started locking her door at night, so that when we entered, she was showering. Tricky little thing she is. One night, she wouldn't stop screaming for help, like she was stuck in the dream, and me and Tank ended up breaking the door open. But of course, she bounced questions back. See, you'd think that it would be easier for us now that the door was somewhat broken, but no. She fixed it. Yeah, Stephanie Plum, _fixing_ a lock. We had gone out to town as usual to get food for the week, and she stopped in at a hardware store. When we got back, she sat down and fixed the damn door. She replaced the hinges,and added new locks.

I set myself to work in the kitchen making dinner. It was just after four and she had already retreated to her room for a shower. Tank of course, stayed with me. "Hows she doin' man?"

He knew how she was doing. Shit, thats how she was doing shit. "Mentally or physically?" I remarked dryly.

"Mentally you dip shit."

"Watch it." I warned before continuing. "Not good. Physically, she fine, but she's still having nightmares and she's to the point where she's blocking us out. Can you believe that she fixed her fucking door?"

"Never though I'd see the day."

I tossed a few thing in the pan for a simple stir fry and continued stirring. "I think I'm going to have a little heart to heart with her tonight."

He snorted. "Good luck with that."

Yeah, good luck with that...

Steph entered a just as I finished setting the table, with a smile. It didn't reach her eyes, and it was fake, but at least it was a start. "So whats for dinner?" She asked plunking her self down in a chair.

"Stir fry." I responded easily.

"Healthy?" She asked with little hope.

"Babe."

She sighed. "It was worth a try."

I smiled to myself, this was the real her, being hopeful that it was unhealthy.

Tank plopped down next to her and I served the plates before seating myself on her other side. The rest of dinner was quiet and when done, we all put our dishes in the dishwasher and excused our selves. At least Steph did. Tank waited in the kitchen, but I followed after her. "I think we need to talk babe." I said calmly to her. I nudged her in, and shut the door. "Sit down." I said, giving her a gentle shove onto the bed.

"Look, I'm busy-"

"Stop." I said simply, but efficiently shutting her up. " Don't lie to me, it's useless." I stated. I had lost patience the first six times she lied to me.

She sighed and pulled her legs up on the bed. "Okay, what do you want?"

"The truth Steph. I want to help you. Because being here, I'm your teacher, mentally and physically. That means that if your suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, then I need to take care of it, because it's what I do. If not because I love you, then because I'm your mentor."

I watched her as I said this, eyes locked, but by the end, she had broken eye contact and shifted her gaze somewhere else. Pretty much anywhere else. Her cheeks tinted pink slightly.

I pulled up a chair and sat in front of her and sat in it, then tipped her chin up so that we were looking in each others eyes. "Steph, don't be embaressed. PTSD is very common and I know what it's like, as does Tank. Your not in this alone. Let us help you. Let _me_ help you." I pleaded.

"I-I don't want help though." She whispered, once again breaking eye contact.

"Then don't want it. We will help you get through this. We will _make_ you get through this." I said grabbing her chin again and tilting it back up. "What do you dream of Steph? What makes you scream at night?" What makes you scream my name at night?

"Nothing..." She mumbled trying to look away again.

"I said not to lie to me." I said, keeping her chin in place."What Steph? What makes you that scared?"

"Slayers...Scrog...Ramirez...Abruzzi...Stiva, all of them. They're all there." She whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. Her eyes took a distant look. "The guy in Mo's bathroom who died, Clyde and even that skip...Morris Munson who wanted to convince people he was crazy by cutting off my nipple and setting me on fire."

The last part made me freeze. "What?" Morris Munson? I remember her having him as a skip when I was accused of murder...but I knew nothing of him wanting to cut off her... and set her on fire. "Steph? Did he say that?"

"Yeah." She said with a humor less laugh. "He was the guy who I shot in the foot right before you came in and tackled you. Then before we could get to the freak-nasty on the floor my Grandma woke up. I remember exactly what he said, only because I'm constantly reminded though. First it was 'Now all I have to do is carve you up and set you on fire, and I'm home free', then seconds later, he continued saying 'I thought I'd just stab you a couple times to make it look good. Maybe cut off a nipple.' He had said." She seemed to be out in her own little world.

"So you see all of them?" I asked changing the subject.

"Yep."She replied dryly.

"Steph, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't help you sooner, or see it to help it."

"It's okay. Not your fault. I was the fuck up that kept attracting them all."

"Hey!" I growled loudly, looking her dead in the eye. "You are not, a fuck up."

"Yeah...okay."

"Steph..."I started. How to say that she needed therapy...

"No." She stated, taking me out of thought. "I do not need mental therapy...or a-a phycologist." She hopped up off the bed and started pacing, very obviously getting angrier. "You think I'm crazy...I can see it in your eyes, the way you think is predictable Ranger. I am not going to have a phycologist tell me that I'm crazy. I'm not crazy...I'm not. It's just nightmares, like a kid, I got nightmares as a kid...It wasn't my fault, it's not. I'm not crazy, it wasn't my fault." She repeated. "I couldn't help stumbling over them. I-I didn't want to stumble over dead bodies or guys robbing stores on bikes. It wasn't my fault!"

She was sobbing by now, she had stopped pacing and she was...just, sobbing.

I stood and walked over to her, catching her before she hit the ground and pulling her to the bed. I sat down and pulled her onto mylap, turning her side ways. "Steph. Going to a phsycologist would be your choice okay? I wouldn't make you go anywhere." Unless I deemed absolutely neccisary. "I also happen to know that it wasn't your fault, I know that, and you aren't crazy. Just, stop jumping to conclusions. I was thinking about it, but I hadn't even finished thinking it before you were ranting. I want to try and help you first. Then we can go to more drastic measures. I don't want this to get so bad that it affects your preformance. okay?"

She nodded. "Sorry."

"It's okay babe. Now, it's nearly" I looked at my watch and it had 20:29 wrtien on it. That makes it 8:29pm. Wow, time flies. It had been an hour and a half already."eight thirty, so lets watch a movie or something." I suggested. It was really the only thing to do.

"Ghostbusters?" She asked perking up.

I smiled. "Deal."

_Okay, I have a thing for cheesy endings. This isn't the end of the story or anything, just the end of the chapter. :D Hope you liked it, this story is mainly giving me ideas for all the others. :D:D_

_R&R_

_Peanut16_


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